One of the best parts about a company like Legendary Entertainment owning the rights to a series like Pacific Rim is the fact that it can do whatever it wants to keep the story alive. While the 2024 TV schedule won’t be seeing any kaiju action, those of you who are amped about that Pacific Rim 3 graphic novel the company is working on should be ready to get even more hyped. That’s thanks to Legendary’s announcement of a TV prequel in development, and I have a good idea on what that story may cover.
Pacific Rim Is Heading To TV… Eventually
Per reporting from Variety, Legendary Entertainment now has a first look deal with production company Chronology. Formed as a partnership between Arrival writer Eric Heisserer and producer Carmen Lewis, all that we know at the moment is that a “Pacific Rim origin story series” is the first project this new partnership is going to explore.
Unfortunately, that’s where the good news ends, at least for the time being. As of this moment, there’s no intended network or streaming service specified for this new excitement. Not to mention, we’re in such an early phase of this project that it’s merely focused on an idea that will more than likely be fleshed out by Eric Heisserer and a writer’s room.
Which means that it's time to talk about canon. And no, it doesn't sound like my Monsterverse/Pacific Rim crossover dreams have come true just yet. Still, as someone who still holds 2013’s Guillermo del Toro directed original in high regard, I think I know where this prequel might be headed with its story.
The Pacific Rim Origin Series Should Follow Stacker Pentecost And The Origins Of The Pan-Pacific Defense Corps
I would be willing to bet a co-writer’s credit that this Pacific Rim series will be focused on the origins of the Pan-Pacific Defense Corps. Shown in broad strokes in the opening prologue for the movie that started it all, this would be the literal best fit for an “origin story” to this saga.
If you don't remember those events, no worries. I'm happy to share that scene below, because who doesn't want to watch Pacific Rim clips on a random afternoon?
Now here’s where things get interesting: if we’re going to head into the early years of the war between humanity and the Precursors, one character kind of needs to come back. An early hero in the PPDC, Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) would be the prime figure to follow. This is where Legendary Comics’ work keeping the Pacific Rim universe alive and well can also be handy, as the graphic novel Tales from Year Zero lays out Stacker’s story in this very period in time.
However, as we’ve seen in the history of this series, the course of events doesn’t always follow a straight line. Let’s not forget how Guillermo del Toro’s original Pacific Rim 2 concept differed from the eventual sequel that would be known as Pacific Rim: Uprising. Though as Legendary has built that comic canon, and feels like it’s going to be honoring the material crafted in books past and future, perhaps we’ll get to see those very adventures adapted after all.
Though us Pacific Rim fans are now in a double holding pattern, at least there’s movement that looks to be cancelling the apocalypse that’s plagued this saga’s development prospects. This excitement definitely means that if you haven’t taken in the reference filled series Pacific Rim: The Black, you should be binging that as soon as possible. All you need is a Netflix subscription, and you can keep the battle going as we wait for the future of this series to pan out.
